If someone in St. Louis calls you a “hoosier”, chances are it has nothing to do with the state of Indiana. In fact, they’re probably insulting you. In St. Louis, it’s often used as a derogatory term.
Amanda Clark is a public historian at the Missouri History Museum.
“It’s a phrase for someone, usually south St. Louis, kind of rural, so maybe from the country that lives in the city now, or maybe has certain behaviors that remind us of the country,” Clark said.
Though many people compare the word hoosier to “redneck” or “hick”, according to Clark, those words don’t quite fit.
“Like redneck is, has it’s own thing and hoosier is specific to St. Louis, even though anyone else in the world would think Indiana” Clark said.
People who leave their Christmas tree up all year and prefer to vacation in Branson are both traits associated with hoosiers, according to a scholarly article from Daniel Duncan titled “Understanding St. Louis’ Love for Hoosier.”
Derogatory uses of the word date back to the 1800s in St. Louis, but historians can’t pinpoint exactly when this word came about. But there are theories.
“They had a labor site here in St. Louis,” Clark said. “So, workers in St. Louis leave their jobs and the owners of the factories were able to recruit people from Indiana, which isn't that far away from here, recruit them to St. Louis to take those jobs”.
According to this theory, this fueled animosity against Indiana “Hoosiers”.
Another involves the Chrysler Plant that opened in Fenton in the 1960s.
“And then when the Chrysler plant closes in Indiana, you know, the theory was they bring people here to work.”
“Hoosier” comes with a class distinction. Typically, the word is used to describe poor, white south St. Louisans. But over the years, some people have taken pride in the word.
A local ska punk band, MU330, even released a song celebrating hoosiers in 1994, called “Hoosier Love”.
But whether it’s used as an insult or a source of pride, Clark said it’ a way to identify yourself as a St. Louisan.
“It’s like Provel cheese or, you know, toasted ravioli,” said Clark. “We like to say that's ours, and Hoosiers in that same bucket. It's important because as St. Louis grows and we try to define who is, who lives in St. Louis… Hoosier is one of those words that can kind of say, yeah, I do live here. I know it. I speak the language.
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